Auburn sophomore Fani Chifchieva was named Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, the SEC announced Tuesday.

Chifchieva’s nod comes on the heels of a six-match win streak and a win over No. 16 Katie Rybakova of Florida State. She also defeated Annabell Bares of Troy University 6-1, 6-1, the fifth time this season Chifchieva hasn’t given up more than two sets in a match.

This is Chifchieva’s second selection as SEC Player of the Week, with the first coming on March 20, 2007.

Chifchieva and the Tigers return to action Saturday for a doubleheader with Jacksonville State and Southern Mississippi. Auburn will face the Gamecocks at 10 a.m., followed by the Eagles at 6 p.m.

Puetz named SEC Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Week
Auburn’s Tim Puetz has been named the Southeastern Conference Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Week after impressive performances against Georgia Tech and Tulsa, the league announced Tuesday.

The Frankfort, Germany native went 4-0 last week and remains undefeated in dual match play in both singles (5-0) and doubles (5-0).

Puetz is the first Auburn men’s tennis player to earn one of the SEC’s weekly honors since Rameez Junaid was named SEC Player of the Week on April 14, 2003. He is the first Auburn player ever to be named Freshman of the Week.

The No. 39 Auburn men’s tennis team returns to action Friday against No. 54 South Florida. The match is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. at Auburn’s Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Gymnastics move up in national poll to No. 14
The Auburn gymnastics team (4-5, 0-4 SEC) is ranked as the No. 14 team in the nation according to the Feb. 18, GymInfo National Rankings.

Additionally, three Tigers are ranked in the top 25 individuals, with two of those ranked in the top 10. Lindsey Puckett is ranked at No. 6, followed by Julie Dwyer at No. 10 and A.J. Mills, who makes her debut at No. 23.

Auburn is also ranked in all four team events. Auburn’s season high floor exercise score versus Georgia catapulted the Tigers seven spots to No. 16. Auburn moved up one spot to 15 on beam and remained steady at No. 12 on vault. The Tigers are ranked at No. 25 on bars.

Puckett jumped 14 spots from No. 20 to her current ranking at No. 6 after winning her third all-around title versus No. 1 Georgia. Puckett is also tied at 14 on vault, moving up five spots from last week’s ranking.

Puckett has won the vault title in three meets this season, with 9.900 being her highest score, a mark she has reached twice (versus Florida and at N.C. State).

Dwyer enters the all-around rankings at No. 10, after falling out of the all-around Jan. 28. Dwyer is ranked as the No. 21 gymnast on beam.

She gave a 9.950, season-high beam performance at LSU on Feb. 8, and won the title for that meet.

Mills, who is a top all-arounder for the Tigers, debuts in the rankings at No. 23, with an average score of 38.745. Mills placed first on bars versus Florida with a season high 9.850. She scored a 9.900 on bars and beam in AU’s second meet of the season versus Alabama.

Auburn will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this week to take on the No. 10 Arkansas Gym’Backs on Friday at 7 p.m., in Barnhill Arena.

Softball begins 14-game road trip today
The Auburn softball team will play the first of 14 consecutive road games today when the Tigers travel to Mobile to play the South Alabama Jaguars in a 6 p.m. game.

Auburn (5-0) is coming off a successful opening weekend after going unbeaten in the Tiger Invitational. South Alabama (3-4) has won three in a row heading into tomorrow’s game at Jaguar Field.

“We’re excited about the challenge of playing on the road,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “We had a good showing this past weekend, but now we have to prepare ourselves for playing against good competition and in front of another team’s fans.”

Following Wednesday’s game, Auburn travels to Orlando for the University of Central Florida Tournament.